More Terror

Palestinian liberation factions have been so busy lately assassinating one another that it was almost a relief--for them--to be at war with Israel again. Last week, in the aftermath of an Israeli air raid on Palestinian camps on the outskirts of Beirut, an elderly Palestinian woman expressed some consolation as she mourned the four dead and 14 wounded. "At least," she said, "these were Israeli bombs, and we are not afraid to die. When we are killed by Palestinians, it is shameful."

The Israeli attack was in retaliation for a terrorist assault on an El Al flight crew in London a day earlier. In that incident a stewardess was killed, and two other members of the crew and seven bystanders were wounded. The Israelis criticized the British for having failed to provide El Al air crews with proper security. The British do not permit Israeli security guards to carry firearms on their soil, but after the London attack they assigned armed guards to escort the airline's personnel.

Meanwhile Israel braced itself for a new round of terrorist violence, which was plainly calculated to derail the Begin-Sadat-Carter summit meeting that is scheduled for next week at Camp David. Israeli television broadcast graphic--and all too true-to-life--programs instructing viewers on how to cope with terrorist bombs. A citizens' organization set up a fund to pay the equivalent of a $550 reward to anyone who discovered and reported an explosive device. At police urging, homeowners began checking their residences twice daily for terrorist booby traps. So far, the extraordinary precautions have paid off". More than a dozen explosives have been unearthed by jittery Israelis.

The apprehensions were justified.

Yasser Arafat, whose Al-Fatah commandos last month provoked the latest round of internecine bloodshed by attacking rival guerrilla organizations in several cities, has been desperately trying to redirect the fraternal rage. In an attempt to reconcile the warring factions, he called for the creation of a unified "armed forces of the Palestinian movement" that would join the commandos in a new assault on Israel.

Unfortunately for Israel--and for the prospects for peace in the Middle East--Arafat's pleas seemed to be falling on receptive ears. His archenemy, Abu Nidal, a onetime Fatah member who broke away to establish his own terrorist gang, sent word from Iraq that he was willing to agree to a truce with Arafat, whom he had previously accused of "treason." If the Palestinians manage to patch up their quarrels, they will be able to pay more deadly attention to the Jewish state.

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